In arrears but not my fault

Pound

I recently applied for a new bank account and choose to transfer all my direct debits. Today I received a call from the collections dept. at my credit card company telling me my account was in arrears asking for a payment. Apparently the DD was rejected even though there's enough money in both accounts to cover the payment.

I asked if I was charged a fee for the late payment. Apparently I wasn't but when I use the automated line my balance is exactly £14 more than it should be.

If I am charged a fee who has to pay it?
If my credit record is affected, can I get it amended?

PNPSUKNET

you need to speak to your bank, then go from there

opinions4u

In arrears but not my fault

In the eyes of the credit card company, it's your responsibility to make sure they get paid.

I would talk to the bank managing your transfer to find out what went wrong and ask them to reimburse you.

I asked if I was charged a fee for the late payment. Apparently I wasn't but when I use the automated line my balance is exactly £14 more than it should be.

You don't say what the outstanding balance is, and what rate the card charges.

Pound

OK, I've phoned Halifax and Barclays (my CC Company) and this is what has happened.

1. I opened an account with Halifax and asked them to transfer all my Direct Debits.
2. Halifax wrote to all the DD originators and asked them to change the details.
3. Barclays ignored this request in line with some policy to only accept changes from the actual account holder.
4. Halifax instructed my previous bank to cancel ALL my direct debits, including the one for Barclays.
5. Barclays eventually tried to request the DD from my old account which was rejected causing a £14 charge.

I've spoken to Barclays and they don't accept liability for this £14 because it's their policy to only accept amendments from myself. I agree that Barclays aren't to blame because although they have a rather backwards policy on DD transfers they haven't failed to do follow their agreement (I'll assume it's in the T&C somewhere) with me.

I think that this is Halifax's fault for asking my old bank to cancel ALL my DDs including ones that had not transferred across, they should have cancelled them on an individual basis. But on speaking to Halifax they're arguing that they wrote to me with a list of DDs now set up and for any that weren't on the list I should contact the companies myself. Indeed they did send me this letter and Barclays wasn't on that list so I admit I should have followed up on this. But even so I think it's wrong that Halifax instructed my old bank to cancel every single DD.

What does everyone think, is Halifax in the wrong on this or did I fail in my responsibility to make sure everything went across OK?

pinkarsenalprincess

I think that you are looking to blame someone for your mistake.

Pound

pinkarsenalprincess wrote: »

I think that you are looking to blame someone for your mistake.

If it's my mistake then I will happily write off the £14.

From my point of view Halifax advertise their account switching process as 'easy' and 'hassle free' which meant I didn't feel I had to vigorously ensure everything went smoothly. If they'd advertised it as something which 'usually goes smoothly but not always' then I would have checked everything.

If you think it's my mistake please explain why you think Halifax are beyond blame for cancelling Direct Debits which hadn't been transferred across?

pinkarsenalprincess

They sent you a letter outlining transferred direct debits. You have said yourself that you noticed barclays was not on the list but failed to chase it up, despite this being part of the transfer process. I have been through the same transfer to halifax and it was hassle free because we understood what was expected of us, checked our DD list sent from halifax and ensured that everything was good and ready to go.

Pound

I didn't notice Barclays wasn't on the list until today. I agree that I should have checked.

But my failure to do this should have resulted in the DD coming from my old account instead of the new one, not being rejected entirely. If the DD had failed because I didn't have any money in the old account or because I'd closed it then I would agree it was entirely my error.

pinkarsenalprincess

I'm pretty sure that when you sign the transfer you agree that once Halifax has sent the letter outlining the DDs transferred then they will instruct your previous bank to cancel all DD. Which is why they state that you must check the list for any omissions. Failure to do so would be your error, not theirs.

opinions4u

I've spoken to Barclays and they don't accept liability for this £14 because it's their policy to only accept amendments from myself.

You gave them a clear instruction on the Halifax account transfer form - that you signed.

Barclays are extracting the urine using that as a reason to charge you £14.

Ask them to do the following:

1) Refund the £14.
2) Correct your credit file as they should have honoured the written transfer request.

If they refuse to, ask for a letter of deadlock. As soon as you have that (or when 8 weeks have passed) involve the FOS.

Barclays are in contravention of banking agreeements to make transfers between institutions as simple as possible.

Bart_Simpson_2

opinions4u wrote: »

You gave them a clear instruction on the Halifax account transfer form - that you signed.

Barclays are extracting the urine using that as a reason to charge you £14.

Ask them to do the following:

1) Refund the £14.
2) Correct your credit file as they should have honoured the written transfer request.

If they refuse to, ask for a letter of deadlock. As soon as you have that (or when 8 weeks have passed) involve the FOS.

Barclays are in contravention of banking agreeements to make transfers between institutions as simple as possible.

Could you tell me what a letter of deadlock is/point me in the right direction.

PS: I'm in a similar position to the OP[except that in my case I received a letter from Santander confirming the credit card company's dd has been setup but the cc did not collect it. My thread " [B]Vanquis direct debit screw up since switching to Santander[/B]" is in the same section as this one ].